Zimbabwe terror campaign reaches hospital wards

Dennis was beaten and left for dead with three shattered limbs, but even when he was found and taken to hospital there was no plaster to set his limbs or painkillers to quell the agony. Jacob was set upon by militiamen who were armed with batons and was struck until he could no longer stand, but when he got to hospital he was told he could not be treated without a police report on his injuries. When Harold's house was burnt down and his foot almost cut through with the ax that one of his attackers swung at him he did not bother going to the government hospital at all. "It isn't safe to be in a hospital where we can be found," he said. As evidence of increasing government-sponsored violence against the Zimbabwean opposition mounts a pattern is emerging of deliberate attempts to obstruct medical treatment for its victims and to cover up the violence. The Zimbabwean Minister of Health and other doctors who are linked to the ruling party have been implicated in orchestrating the violence and using government medical facilities for their activities. Harold was attacked on Apr. 25 at his homestead in a village 25 miles from the center of Murewa, the constituency of David Parirenyatwa, the Minister of Health and a doctor in his own right. Thirty-five men from the local Zanu (PF) youth militia broke down his door, demanding to know where his gun was kept. Even when he handed it over they attacked him with batons and an ax, slashing him across the body. He never thought of going to the nearest hospital, which is in Murewa. "The same people who did this would find me there," he said. Instead, he limped to the roadside where he hitched a lift to Harare. His son then took him to a private clinic, which is used by other victims of the violence. Murewa is a long-time Zanu (PF) stronghold but in the elections last month one of its three constituencies, Murewa West, fell to the opposition. That was enough to provoke the retaliation of the local Zanu (PF) militia, led by the senior party officials of the area, including Dr. Parirenyatwa. According to a witness, on Apr. 10 Parirenyatwa and two other local Zanu (PF) MPs, accompanied by gunmen, rounded up people in the center of Murewa and forced them to attend a rally in the hospital grounds.–threatened MDC supporters with death if they 're-vote' MDC in the anticipated election rerun," said the affidavit, written and signed by an opposition activist who was at the meeting. The militiamen, apparently acting on the orders of the minister, also fired shots to round up people in the Chigogodza township. Several hospitals throughout the areas worst affected by the violence–including Murewa–have become the epicenters of the campaign to reverse the election victory of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which is still unannounced and is apparently in the process of being overturned by the machinations of Robert Mugabe's regime. An election official last night announced that provisional results would be released today, following controversial recounts in several constituencies. On Apr. 25 more than 200 opposition supporters were arrested in a raid on the MDC headquarters in Harare. Many of the detainees, including pregnant women and children, were undergoing treatment at private clinics in Harare, which was organized by party workers and civil society groups. Many rural doctors are still battling to treat the wounded despite a lack of medical supplies. Others have been threatened to prevent them from caring for victims. Dennis was taken to Kotwa hospital in Mudzi after he was rescued by a party official. He was forced to leave for Harare when doctors told him they had run out of plaster to set his broken arms and shattered femur. He was treated at a private clinic in Harare but a day before the raid at the MDC headquarters, unknown men tried to break into the ward, so he was moved. Central Intelligence Office agents asked for the names of patients the next day. Human rights groups, who have helped to bring the injured to Harare for treatment, reported yesterday that dozens had failed to arrive and reports had reached them of police roadblocks stopping victims from getting through.